Cherries by the Bucketful

I watch for the blackbirds to land in my fruit trees before picking. Every year they visit our cherry trees when the fruit is at it prime. They know from experience that a day here or there makes all the difference between sweet succulent berries or sour, tart fruit. Unfortunately one year I was away when they ripened.

This year I was able to test and re-test our cherries and today Theresa and I will pick enough for our use. Our neighbours and family can share with the birds for the rest. Our trees were gifts from Doris, my mother-in-law who has kindly added to our orchard on the occasion of our anniversary. Another time it was a peach tree she gave us and we have made good use of the fruit. Doris makes good choices as she loves jam - or could I say anything which contains sugar - and the more sugar the better.

This year we plan to freeze some for the future but the immediate need is for a one crust cherry pie with crumble topping. This is my favourite pie and the girls collaborate in making the very best pies.

Our trees are grafted and one of them produces four different varieties of fruit. We prefer the large yellow variety because of their size and sweetness. I have to leave now but will be thinking of you people who are not around to have some pie later today.